London Galleries Expand in Art Recession

Colin Gleadell tours the active galleries in graffiti, Russian Contemporary and emerging artists that are expanding in London, especially the new Fitzrovia district, despite prominent layoffs and gallery closures forced by the recession. Among the galleries Gleadell spotlights (all bullet points are quotes from Gleadell’s story, many are redacted):

Younger artists are also likely to find support at the new Josh Lilley Fine Art, which opens next month in Riding House Street, north of Oxford Street in the burgeoning arts district that estate agents call Fitzrovia.

The big news in Fitzrovia, however, is that the inimitable Steve Lazarides [ . . . ] is moving in. Some of his artists are as sought after as ever. A photograph by fashionable Parisian artist JR, which he had sold for £5,000 six months earlier, fetched £26,000 at Sotheby’s in February [. . . . ]

[ . . . ] Russian-born Ilona Orel, who is opening a new, 350 sq. m gallery in Howick Place, Westminster, above the Phillips de Pury & Co auction rooms. Orel, a former model who opened her first gallery specialising in contemporary Russian art in Paris in 2001, launches her new gallery on April 22 with works by Andrei Molodkin, who will represent Russia in the forthcoming Venice Biennale.